


double fudge chocolate milkshake

by loveliuess



Series: mugs (aka a formilex polyamory AU no one asked for) [7]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Intrusive Thoughts, Light-Hearted, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25995721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveliuess/pseuds/loveliuess
Summary: Forrest is stressed out so Alex decides to take him and Michael to the second edition of The Mexican Market at the Pony.
Relationships: Forrest Long/Alex Manes, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes, Michael Guerin/Forrest Long, Michael Guerin/Forrest Long/Alex Manes
Series: mugs (aka a formilex polyamory AU no one asked for) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753057
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	double fudge chocolate milkshake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amoramo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoramo/gifts).



> Hello!!!
> 
> Yeah, I know it's been a while since I last posted, but uni started and I'm working on a multichapter work with our boys that I'm really excited to publish once it's done!!!
> 
> As always, shout out to my girl Kyra ([AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bella_Monoxide) & [tumblr](https://bella-monoxide.tumblr.com/)) who beta’d this fic and made it 156189453 times better for the reader!
> 
> Also, this fic is a prompt by [amoramo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoramo/pseuds/amoramo), who has been commenting on my work since day *1*! Sorry for taking literal months to write this, but here we go, I hope you like it!
> 
> Every feedback is welcome!
> 
> Ps.: This takes place before 'he still loves'.

"Ugh, I can't do this anymore." Forrest groaned loudly as he tipped his head back and grabbed his hair. He was at the dining table with his laptop trying to write a chapter for what felt like an eternity.

"You've been putting too much pressure on yourself, try to relax,” Alex said, staring at his own laptop. "It's been... three hours you've been sitting there and suffering, why don't you take a break? Michael can make you some tea,” he said, shamelessly delegating the chore to the cowboy. 

“Just say the word and I’ll do it,” Michael said compliantly from the living room. “Your wish is my command.” 

Forrest pouted. He didn't want to admit defeat just yet.

Alex was sitting across the table, code-breaking some Caulfield files while Forrest tried to write his book. The two men were in the kitchen while Michael was laying on the couch with Buffy sleeping on his chest as he lazily read one of the books about queer history referenced in Forrest’s PowerPoint. 

They had been like this for the past few hours. Alex usually woke up just before sunrise thanks to his military upbringing; Forrest was the type to naturally wake up with the sunlight; Michael, however, was the last one to leave the bed mainly because he liked to sleep much later when he was at the cabin. 

Michael enjoyed sitting outside and looking at the stars after Forrest and Alex had gone to bed. Since the place was a bit isolated from the city, the night sky was much brighter and he could get lost in it for hours on end. He was actually thinking about buying a telescope just to be a bit closer to the stars. As a result, on weekends Michael usually would go to bed late into the night and wake up hours after the other two men.

It was incredible how easily they had fallen into a routine. The cabin was _almost_ too small for the three of them, but they made it work as if they had been living there their entire lives.

They fit perfectly in every way, and yet they still had not put a label on what they were. The subject was constantly at the back of their minds, and yet it was never brought up. They didn’t call each other boyfriends or said anything out loud that acknowledged their relationship status was past the let’s-see-where-this-goes phase, which ended around the time Forrest spent ten days in New York. 

The three men realised how much they missed each other and wanted to be together. They knew they could make it more official, but none of them knew how to bring it up. For this matter, Forrest decided not to be the first one to talk because he didn’t want to pressure Michael and Alex to take a step forward in their dynamic without absolute certainty. Making their relationship official would be a great milestone in their lives, so Forrest needed to be sure everyone was on the same page. 

Forrest took a big gulp of coffee, which made Alex smirk. Forrest wasn't the biggest fan of the drink and only used it as a last resort when he was feeling desperate.

"Yesterday I wrote two full chapters in a few hours. I felt like I could've written the entire book and nothing could have stopped me," Forrest’s speech was a little faster than normal, "now it took me three hours to write 'Nazi bad’. No, really, that's all I ended up writing." 

Both Michael and Alex sympathetically chuckled at Forrest. The man had been typing, huffing, and erasing for the past hours. It was amusing when the historian was mildly annoying but still in a good mood, but when he started to become more and more stressed, Alex and Michael got worried. Forrest had looked like he was on the verge of tears of frustration for the past couple minutes, so Alex decided it was time to intervene.

"Maria invited us to The Mexican Market at the Pony Second Edition. Yes, Michael, she emphasized _us_ as in you, me, and Forrest," Alex said when he saw Michael opening his mouth to object, "I was thinking about going later, but I think it's a good idea to eat lunch there."

"Ugh, sure. Maybe drinking a bottle of tequila will unblock my writing," Forrest took a deep breath, closing his laptop with a bit too much force.

"I'm in,” Michael said after a second of hesitation, “but if things get a tiny bit awkward with Maria, I'll leave immediately and you two will have to come back on foot."

"Guerin, it's been a month since she saw us at Planet 7. She is a mature woman who knows how to deal with her shit," Alex said while turning off his laptop and standing up, "now, would you be a nice alien cowboy and fetch my prosthetic with your brain?"

"Sir, yes sir." Michael said jokingly, knowing full well how Forrest and Alex reacted to that. He's been using those words more and more just to see the sharp intake of breath from the other two men.

As Michael stretched and focused his powers to get Alex’ prosthetic, Forrest stood up and went to the bedroom to put on some pants. 

Maybe it was the Manes’ house rules or the years in the military – possibly both – but Alex was always the one to walk around the house fully clothed and completely functional. He felt way too vulnerable when he was undressed, to the point where even in the afterglow he would leave the bed and put on at least a pair of boxer briefs.

Michael was pretty comfortable with walking around shirtless, and since Planet 7 he had developed a taste for booty shorts. He claimed that they made his ass look good, so the length of each shorts he would cut out of old jeans got shorter and shorter.

Now Forrest was something else. The man was a complete nudist. He could feel comfortable in whatever he was in the mood for. He settled for wearing only long shirts and no pants or underwear. Sometimes Alex and Michael would arrive at the cabin and see him only in one of the cowboy's plaid shirts, _unbuttoned_ , and they would lose their minds. Most times they didn’t even bother to go to the bedroom.

Once ready, they got into Alex' car, and as the airman was turning the keys, he remembered something and rushed back into the cabin. He returned a minute later with his laptop bag, which prompted curious looks from Forrest and Michael. 

“Maria had a problem with the Pony’s computer and I promised to see if I can help.”

Michael's heart was beating fast all the way over there, but once they arrived, Maria received them with warm hugs and terrible tamangoes, and so Michael was starting to believe things were fine.

After exchanging amenities for a few minutes, Maria said, "Can I borrow Alex for a minute? My newest employee," she looked at Michael intently, "touched the bar’s computer and accidentally fried it with his electric alien superpowers, so now I need my friend with military-grade technical skills to help me salvage whatever might be left.” 

“My god, what happened?” Michael asked with a smirk.

“Your brother was really focused on counting the money in the till and got spooked when George dropped a tray filled with glass bottles.” Maria said with a deep sigh, “your brother is a good bartender and has some impressive organizational skills, but he is now strictly forbidden to go anywhere near an electronic device that belongs to the bar.” 

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Michael said, “Max once fried a new cell phone because he saw Liz kiss Kyle after school. The thing actually exploded in his hand. It was very dramatic.” 

“Your brother recites Shakespeare, Guerin, of course he is dramatic,” Maria replied and everyone laughed. The air was light between the four of them, and only then Michael was able to completely relax. 

Soon after Alex left with Maria, the two men left and started to look around, stopping here and there to check out some fruits and vegetables to buy later with Alex. They were at the third food tent when Forrest intertwined his pinky with Michael's for a brief moment. A small gesture that made the cowboy feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

They stopped by a used book tent and found some interesting titles on sale. Michael bought a couple of books and was ready to leave, but Forrest didn’t look like he was going to step away from there anytime soon, so they decided to meet again at the juice truck.

Michael started to wander around by himself and stopped at the line to buy a smoothie. By the time there were only a handful of people left in front of him, he heard someone behind him say, "Michael Guerin, long time no see!"

He frowned a bit because he couldn't clearly identify who was talking. When he turned around, he saw a familiar guy a few steps away.

"Ben!” He said once he recognized who was calling for him, “do you miss losing money to me?" Benjamin was a regular at the Pony and Michael always kicked his ass at the pool table without even using his powers. 

"Yeah, man! Ain’t seeing you around The Pony anymore," Ben said with a bright smile, "heard you and Maria broke up and all, and I gotta say, man, I don't know how you could let that hot piece of ass go."

Michael was slightly taken aback. He had been around Planet 7 for so long he forgot how straight men could act unprompted.

"Yeah, we weren't working out that well."

"Such a shame, you two made a nice couple,” Ben said as he clapped Michael's shoulder, “so, what are you up to these days?”

"Oh, same as always. Been working on Noah's truck for a few weeks now. I have no idea what that bastard did to his car, but the engine is practically unsalvageable."

"Noah is one to always wait for things to blow up before fixing them."

"Yeah, he was lucky that his truck didn't literally explode when he dropped it off at Sanders."

They kept chatting until it was Michael's turn to order. He asked for a creamy iced coffee for himself, a double fudge chocolate milkshake for Forrest, and a strawberry smoothie for Alex. 

"I knew it?! The only reason to break up with someone like Maria is another chick," Ben said teasingly, "sooooo… who's the lucky lady?" 

"I'm sorry?" Michael didn’t feel like having this conversation with an acquaintance from the bar while waiting for the drinks. 

"C'mon Michael, who's the chick you bangin' that made you break up with Maria?"

As Michael was taking a deep breath to talk, Forrest showed up with five bags filled with books. 

"Michael, I've found some really good books about the Roswell alien crash and–" Forrest was so focused on looking at the things he bought, he didn't notice Michael had company, "oh, shit, sorry to interrupt. Hi, Forrest Long!"

Forrest extended his hand and Benjamin shook it. 

"Long, huh? I've had some problems with Wyatt last month."

"Oh, what a shocker," Forrest said ironically, "wait, were you the one responsible for his black eye a few weeks ago?"

"Not me, my poker buddy. I was there to help, though. The son of a bitch tried to cheat right under our nose." 

At that moment, Michael received a cup holder with the three drinks. He tipped the barista and went back to pay attention to the conversation. 

"Yeah, that sounds like Wyatt. Thanks for your service anyway," Forrest said and the three men laughed. The historian put the reusable bags he carried around all the time on the ground because they were starting to get heavy, and then he grabbed the cup that had chocolate in it. 

"Thanks, Mickey," Forrest said. He almost kissed Michael’s cheek, but in a split second he remembered where they were and who was there with them, so he refrained from doing just in time.

"Mickey, huh? Never heard anyone calling you that at the pony," Ben said, oblivious to what was actually happening, "Anyway, Long, you seem to be close to this guy, so tell me, who is the chick to blame for Michael and Maria’s break up?"

"Oh, right..." was all Forrest managed to say. Despite their best efforts, they only felt openly comfortable displaying their relationship when they were at Planet 7. 

No matter how confident the three men felt, they couldn’t act spontaneously outside of their bubble. Forrest was more prone to show affection in public, both because of his personality and his years as an open queer man. Alex and Michael, however, were held back by traumas that made them much more reserved. Sure Forrest had a rough time coming out, but his relatability to Michael and Alex’ history stopped on the surface level. The emotional and physical abuse they went through their whole lives was something Forrest understood but couldn’t relate to, so the best he could do was to just give them time.

“Oh, it looks like Michael is making it hush-hush,” Ben said, not noticing how uncomfortable Forrest was, “is it Jessica? Makes sense you don’t want people to know because she married Carl a few months ago. I know how you two had an intense thing going on before you and Maria became an item. Long, can you believe this fucker always went for the chicks who were already taken? He used to say that it gave a little bit of a spice when he knew the boyfriend was right around the corner to punch him.” Ben clapped Michael’s shoulder again, “So I bet whoever you’re seeing, she’s trouble, just the way you like, _Mickey_.”

Hearing his pet name coming out of someone’s mouth other than Forrest felt wrong in so many ways, Michael had a sudden urge to punch the guy for mocking the nickname that _didn’t belong to him_. Not even Alex called him _Mickey_.

“Alright, I… think I’ll look for Alex to give him his smoothie before it turns into a gross juice,” Forrest said, clearly uncomfortable but trying his best to act casual. 

He grabbed the book bags and was reaching for Alex’ cup when Michael said, a bit frantic “no, wait. I’ll join you.”

Forrest nodded his head and had a small smile on his face, noticing how much distress Michael was trying to hide. Michael shook hands with Benjamin, took two bags from Forrest, and turned around to leave. 

The moment he took the first step, Michael stopped in his tracks. He took a deep breath and said, “wait, no, I can’t… I need to… Ben, wait!”

Benjamin looked confused, but paid attention to him. “Actually, I’m no longer the type of guy who fools around and looks for trouble, I… Well, you see, I…” Michael was rambling as he put the bags down.

“Michael, you don’t need to--” Forrest tried to intervene the moment he realised what Michael was trying to do. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt by the possibility of Michael feeling pressured into coming out because of him.

“Just… yes I do. I’m just so tired and I want to…” Michael sighed and passed his hands through his hair, “Benjamin, meet my boyfriend, Forrest Long,” he blurted out in the middle of his rambling.

“Michael…” Forrest didn’t know what to do. On one hand, he was happy Michael managed to come out to a friend, but on the other, the historian was afraid he wasn’t ready yet to do so because of the repercussions the news could have throughout the town.

There was a second of silence among them and Benjamin started laughing. “Sure man, and I’m an alien. That’s a good one, my god, you were always hilarious,” he said as he wheezed and slapped his knee, still playing it off as a joke.

It took a few seconds for Benjamin to realise Michael wasn’t joking, and his laughter died down as the penny dropped. 

“Wait… are you serious?” He said with a mixture of surprise and another feeling the other two men didn’t want to think too much about. “Michael, man, you could’ve had any woman you wanted, and you are telling me you are gay?”

“Not gay, bisexual ,” Michael answered, “and yeah, we’ve been together for almost eight months now. The reason I’m not showing up at The Pony is because I’m hanging out at Planet 7 most of the time.” 

“Oh, I see,” now it was time for Benjamin to feel uncomfortable, “I mean… I have no problem with it, it’s just that I’ll never understand your life choices. I have a cousin who’s gay and I respect him a lot. He spends every thanksgiving here with us.”

Michael chuckled. Ben was a nice, average guy with too many unconscious prejudices for his own good. His speech didn’t come from a place of hate, but plain ignorance, and it was not up to Michael or Forrest to teach him about it. Michael knew that Benjamin would look at him differently – probably distance himself and stay away – but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much. 

“Yeah, right.” there was an awkward pause before Michael said, “well, we are heading out. It was nice seeing you here, man.”

Ben’s posture was stiff and it was clear he was doing a great effort not to look so surprised, and Michael wondered how long it would take for that guy to wrap his head around the new information. 

They turned around and left a shocked Benjamin behind. Michael felt relieved despite his heart rate being through the roof. Forrest was at the same time proud and worried by what just happened. He was afraid he made Michael feel pressured to come out, and that things might’ve been different if Forrest hadn’t walked in on the conversation. 

“How are you feeling, Michael?” Forrest asked on their way to The Pony. 

“Like I came out to a random guy I know and it feels like my heart is pounding out of my chest,” he answered, “but at the same time I feel like a weight I’ve been carrying around my whole life has been lifted off my shoulders.”

When they got to the front door, Michael stopped in his tracks and Forrest put his bags down, turning to face him. 

“Why was it harder to come out willingly to someone I barely know than to be caught red-handed by my siblings, Forrest?” Michael asked softly after a sigh. 

“Well, the process of coming out is unique to every person, Mickey,” Forrest answered as he took Michael’s hands and lightly kissed his knuckles, “not knowing how the other person will react is nerve-wracking, no matter how close you are to them.”

“Forrest, what is bothering you? You seemed worried about something,” Michael asked as he cupped his cheeks with the same hand that Forrest had been kissing. The historian closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

“I… I’m afraid I pressured you into coming out. I shouldn’t have barged in and–”

“Hey, stop it. I’ve been wanting to come out for a while now, I just didn’t know how. God, I want to walk around with you and Alex on my arms for everyone to see. I want everybody to see the men that make me happy, and what happened today felt like a good first step. Your presence motivated me, Forrest. It never… look at me… it _never_ pressured me.” Michael then kissed the historian’s forehead, “now let’s get inside before I have to buy another smoothie for our hacker boy.”

Michael helped Forrest with his books, and the first thing they saw as they walked in was Alex sitting by the counter and completely immersed on his laptop. The airman was so focused on his task that he didn’t notice the other two men there and that Maria was nowhere to be seen.

Alex startled back to reality when they sat down by his side – Michael on his left and Forrest on his right – and almost as if it was planned, they kissed Alex' cheeks at the same time. 

The airman grabbed his smoothie and took notice of Forrest's bags, "looks like someone had a lot of fun at the book tent," he said teasingly.

"Oh, you have no idea," Forrest replied, "I've found a couple of books about aliens in Roswell that might interest you, and of course some queer literature just because."

"Good to know.” Alex said as he took a sip of his drink, “who should I thank for the smoothie?" 

Forrest pointed at Michael at the same time the cowboy raised his hands, which prompted a lingering peck on the lips from Alex.

"No problem.” Michael said after they broke apart, “so, how are things going in here? What's the damage Max caused?"

"Well, the motherboard is literally fried and the hard drive is corrupted because of the power surge, but, if everything keeps going smoothly, I’ll manage to save most of the files. I just need to transfer everything I can because I’m afraid this is the last time the hard drive will ever work. It might take a while, so if you guys want to walk around, I can catch up to you later.”

“Nah, I’m fine being here,” Forrest shrugged, “Mickey?”

“Agreed. Besides, the AC here is really good, I don’t mind cooling down with the two of you,” he answered, “just let me call Max real quick to tell him the computer status. The guy is feeling really guilty as hell about this and I need to put his mind at ease. Hold on.”

As Michael stepped away to talk to his brother, Alex turned to Forrest and asked, “what happened to him? Something is… different.”

“Well, I’ll let him fill you in on the details, but he pretty much came out to the first person outside of our… social bubble? It was a straight guy he used to play pool with here at The Pony.”

Alex choked on his smoothie, almost drooling on his shirt, “are you serious? Holy shit, that’s… unexpected. That explains the whole relieved-but-freaked-out vibe he’s sending.”

“Yeah,” Forrest laughed at Alex's reaction and gave him little taps on the back, “the guy kept asking who was the woman responsible for his and Maria’s break-up, and in a moment of insane courage he told Benjamin we were dating. He didn’t even touch on the subject that I’m only half of the equation because the guy already looked confused as it was.”

Alex was perplexed, his mouth slightly open. “Wow, that’s… that’s unbelievable. And how did the guy react?”

“Well, it could’ve been worse, but it could’ve been better too. He even played the card ‘nothing against _you people_ , I even know someone who is gay and I treat them as a person’, but at least he wasn’t violent, so I’ll consider it a success. I’ll let Michael elaborate on the details.”

“For a city like Roswell, this is already a victory for the gay agenda. And how were you in the middle of all this?”

“I was fine. Taken aback, of course, but fine. Afterwards I was crushed by the crippling thought that I was responsible for it, but Michael already reassured me he did it on his own volition and that I shouldn’t be worried about it.” there was a pause where Alex could see Forrest debating with himself if he should say the next words, “I… just don’t know if I believe him that much.”

“Hey, Forrest. You never pressured us into doing anything. _Anything_. You always respected us and our own pace to come to terms with all of this… look at me,” Alex said in a soft voice when Forrest tried to avert his eyes from him, “this tiny voice in your mind wants to take over the narrative and distort everything, but remember they are automatic thoughts and they are not you. Promise me if these thoughts get out of control we will sit down and talk about it?”

Forrest only managed to nod. Sometimes his mind got the best of him and implanted some nonsense that could leave Forrest awake for days on end. Michael and Alex knew intrusive thoughts appeared at seemingly random moments, and the best way to deal with it was to avoid fighting against it. 

Alex cupped Forrest’s face with one hand, unknowingly mimicking the gesture Michael did moments ago before they stepped into the bar. It was a gesture that calmed the historian and made him feel safe, so the other two men did it all the time.

“I have therapy next week, so now I already have a topic to discuss,” Forrest said as he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, “thank you.”

Alex answered by kissing the historian deeply. They were interrupted by Michael coming back to them after hanging up.

“Well, what did I miss here?” he asked as he sat down.

“Intrusive thoughts suck,” Forrest answered. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really, no. Maybe later at the cabin with a nice mug of hot tea filling my senses,” Forrest smiled. 

“Sure! What tea would you like to–” Michael was interrupted by a Maria storming in the bar, almost euphoric.

“Michael Guerin?! Why did Benjamin Miller come running to me asking if you ever talked about him when we were together? Like, together _in bed_?”

There was a moment of silence in the empty bar that was soon followed by explosive laughter from everyone in it.

“Sit down and let me tell you how I came out to Ben…” Michael checked his phone, “five minutes ago.”

“Oh thank God! I thought he wanted to propose a threesome and I almost lost my mind.” Maria shook her head as she sat behind the counter, “please, tell us the story.”

And Michael did, not sparing any detail. By the time he finished, he and Forrest seemed much more relaxed while Alex and Maria were overall amused by the whole situation, and the files were completely transferred from the corrupted hard drive. 

“Yeah, I lost count of how many times you were punched in the face after leaving the washroom,” Maria said, a bit more serious, “you always went for the girls with boyfriends.”

“Well, I was the posterboy of unhealthy coping mechanisms for many years, that was just one of them.”

“I’m glad you changed for the better, Michael.” Maria took out four shot glasses and poured some tequila in them, “you two are being really good for him.” 

Alex and Forrest smiled. When Michael opened his mouth to say something, Maria raised a glass and said, “to good and healthy coping mechanisms.”

Michael and Forrest grabbed one glass each while Alex raised his smoothie. They cheered and the three drinking the shots downed them in one go. Maria threw a questioning glance at Alex, who raised his cup and said, “designated driver.”

With that, Maria downed the left over shot glass like it was nothing and put the glasses away. She then asked with a face as if waiting for some bad news, “so, how about the computer?” 

“Saved pretty much everything including the most important folder you told me about. Tomorrow I can drop by and change the parts that were fried.”

She let out a big sigh of relief and her smile was bright. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you! Drinks are on the house for the next five open mic nights for the three of you, as long as you _behave_!” She looked at Michael intently at the last word, and Michael crossed his heart as an answer.

“Perfect,” Alex answered and they shook hands to seal the deal.

While Alex was gathering his gear, Forrest left the bar to put his books in the trunk of Alex’ car because he wanted to enjoy the market without carrying so much weight around. By the time he came back, Maria was saying her goodbyes so she could focus on supervising the event.

When they started walking around, Michael put his arm around Forrest’s shoulder and soon after Alex intertwined his fingers with the cowboy’s. Michael and Forrest looked curiously at the airman, who just shrugged and said, “Everyone in this town knew I was gay even before I knew it myself. Might as well be seen with two hot guys at the Mexican Market and give them something to gossip about for a few days.”

The other two men laughed and Michael kissed Alex, granting them a few looks from the bystanders. He then heard a familiar voice nearby saying, “what the fuck,” and as he broke the kiss, he saw Benjamin getting closer. 

“Guerin, I thought you said Forrest was your boyfriend?!” Ben said as he stared at the three men clearly confused, “dude, what type of relationship is this?”

“You see Ben, Forrest here is not the only hot guy I’m in love with,” Michael said with a bright smile, “you probably know Alex Manes, right?”

Alex then extended his hand and it took three seconds for Ben to react and shake it. Michael then continued to talk, “he is also my boyfriend… _our_ boyfriend. We decided to throw the love triangle out of the window and turn it into a threesome. Believe me, everyone ended up winning in this arrangement.”

“Michael Guerin is dating two men? This generation just gets weirder and weirder,” Benjamin said, “I just wish you had told me before when we played pool so I wouldn’t have bent over that table in your direction as often as I did.” 

“No worries man, you’ve never been my type. I usually go for nerd historians and strong airmen anyway,” Michael looked at both men, who were smiling brightly at him, “I’m afraid we need to go now. Alex didn’t have a chance to look around the market and we need to buy a few things for the weekend. Nice talking to you again, Ben”

They waved goodbye at the perplexed man and started walking around. People stared at them openly, but the three men couldn’t care less about them. 

“How are you feeling, Guerin?” Alex asked when they stopped at a fruit tent. 

“Easier this time around because both of you are here with me,” he answered as he let go of Forrest to check on some apples to buy, “but I think it was too much information for poor Ben to handle.” 

“Nah, he’s a grown man, he will survive,” Forrest said, “I wonder how long it’ll take for the news to spread.”

“I think by nightfall everyone in this town and their mother will know about us,” Alex said, “it’s actually a miracle no one from Planet 7 recognized us on the street. Now we need to be extra aware of our surroundings and avoid engaging with homophobes as much as possible, and I think we’ll be good.”

After paying for the fruits they proceeded to walk around arm-in-arm, this time with Forrest in the middle. 

“So… just to be sure... are we officially boyfriends now?” The historian asked as they passed the juice truck where Michael had ordered their drinks earlier.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes!” Michael almost shouted.

“And also I might start calling you hacker boy because I simply can’t get over it,” Forrest added as he smiled, “can I steal it from you, Mickey?” 

“Sure thing, babe,” he answered. 

“Now,” Forrest said without taking his eyes off a particular spot, “I might go back to that tent over there and buy two books I was trying to convince myself not to earlier today.”

“Suit yourself, man,” Michael said, “we’ll accompany you.” 

They ended up leaving the tent carrying five more books. They walked around for another hour, bought the food they needed and went back to the cabin in the early evening. 

That night they talked about their expectations, and more importantly, their fears. They talked about what they thought it would change now that they could be out and about, and the hardships they will face in a small city such as Roswell. The conversation ended on a hopeful note as they realised they weren’t scared of what might come their way since they had each other’s back.

They talked and listened to each other over steaming mugs of tea and hot cocoa. Despite going to bed early, they went to sleep late that night, with the moon high in the sky. 

Once in bed, Forrest fell asleep with an ‘I love you’ on his lips, and was woken up by the same string of words whispered in his ears as Michael and Alex gently kissed him good morning.

The end ~

**Author's Note:**

> You can always send me a prompt here or on [my tumblr](https://loveliuess.tumblr.com/), and check out my [main tumblr](https://the-innefable-idiot.tumblr.com/) for ye good ole rambling about stuff.


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